Electronics in the United States should have a UL (Underwriters Laboratory) tag on them somewhere, in Europe, it’s the CE tag.
Guess how much electricity your computer uses and then take a look at the tag and see what the maximum power consumption is.
Power is measured in Watts, W (Watts, Volts and Amperes are always capitalized since they are named after people). Sometimes, on battery-powered devices, the power is not stated, but the current (in Amperes or Amps) and the potential (in Volts) will be. In this case, you multiply the current (in Amperes or Amps) with the potential to get the maximum amount of instantaneous power your device uses (in Watts). Typically, cell phones use 3 to 5 Watts and laptops use 35 to 50 Watts. Coffee makers are typically 900 Watts. Wow.
When you use power for a duration of time, you can determine how much energy has been used. If you use your cell phone at a power level of 5 Watts for 1 hour then you have used 5 Watthours (Wh) of energy. A battery’s capacity is how much energy it holds.
Take a quick gander and count up the amount of power you are using right now. You may have to catch the refridgerator if its running. You can also split that up between your housemates. Honestly, it will take some real effort to determine how much power you use at any moment, there is a lot of power that was put into making the products in front of you. This is okay, as long as we are aware that our power and energy usage and continue to clarify where it comes from and educate our selves to the direct and embedded energies that fuel our lifes.
Right now, my direct power use is about 100 Watts (two computers and a cell phone) and its daytime so I don’t need to worry about lighting and the alarm clock by the bed is on but I don’t see it. I’m sure Im not counting everything, but I’m getting closer.
In 1998 the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology issued its vision for each person to live under 2000-Watts, the current average in the United States is 12,000 Watts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Watt_society
There is a new design paradigm emerging, one that replaced the brute-force method of getting it done. In the past, adding more power or energy meant getting more functionality (more gas give more speed). Now, the elegant design challenge is to get more functionality with less energy (go farther with a hybrid-electric car with regeneative charging from breaking). Where does this lead? All the functionality with no to minimal energy. This is beauty.
And, this is enegy awareness and it spreads. Electrical power is political power. Know your power and energy.
We just wrapped a second day of green consulting for Mario Van Peebles and his family, along with the help of Ed Begley, Jr. From left-to-right: Shena, Elizabeth, Mario, Me, Ed, Brent, and Ryan:
We were hired by Hour One productions to come in and consult for Mario and his family for a green home makeover and today we got to get down with him, his family, Ed and his daughter and really have some fun with each other while showing them some quick and easy (along with a few major technical points concerning electric use and meter reading, which the kids just loved!), steps to go green as a family.
Brent, Elizabeth, Ryan, Shena, and I rolled out in her biodiesel Jeep Liberty from our base of operations at the Sugar Shack (an intentional urban community house going green too), arriving on site at 1pm sharp. Our team met the complete production team and Van Peebles family, then completed our assessment of the house, prior to shooting everyone’s first scenes.
The day went by very quickly as everyone had a lot of fun. Elizabeth and Shena shot some scenes with the boys, girls and Mario’s wife, while Brent and Ryan went through the electronics with the boys in their room, followed by a fun meter-reading session with them outside.
Then it was off to shoot our arrival scene with Ed, walking up the street with him and his daughter and our team. This was followed by our initial arrival into the house and meeting with Mario, then quickly dispersing off into our respective area’s of expertise throughout the house.
We shot some other various bits and pieces and were able to get nearly every one completed before the latest round of rough, west coast weather hit again.
And that was that: At a wee bit past 5pm, we packed up our gear, said our goodbyes and returned back to HQ for a homemade team dinner (along with our household’s weekly meeting). It was a great day of fun and learning for everyone involved and we look forward to the show airing on HDTV.
We’ll keep you posted on this as more details come our way, along with some promo clips, once the show launches.
Best of luck to Mario and family as they continue the greening of their beautiful home!
